CHRISTMAS DAY, 2009: AL QAEDA MEMBER TRIES TO BLOW UP DELTA FLIGHT ABOVE DETROIT

UPDATED AND BUMPED TO TOP FOR NOW

From Fox News:

U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.

The passenger was being questioned Friday evening.

Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear.

"He appears to have had some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite," said one of the U.S. officials.

Authorities initially believed the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor injuries.

Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Susan Elliott said the passenger was subdued immediately. She had no details on the injuries. Delta and Northwest have merged.

One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She didn't know the person's condition, or whether the person was a man or woman. She referred all inquiries to the FBI.

An FBI spokeswoman said the incident is being investigated. It came just as the flight, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam.

Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident happened during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."

"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.

Rich Griffith, a passenger, said he was seated too far in the back to see what had happened. But he said he didn't mind being detained on the plane for several hours.

"It's frustrating if you don't want to keep your country safe," he said. "We can't have what's going on everywhere else happening here."

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

J.P. Karas, 55, said he was driving down a road near the airport and saw a Delta jet at the end of the runway, surrounded by police cars, an ambulance, a bus and some TV trucks.

"I don't ever recall seeing a plane on that runway ever before and I pass by there frequently," he said.

Karas said it was difficult to tell what was going on, but it looked like the front wheel was off the runway.

The Homeland Security Department said passengers may see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident.

"We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates," the department said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident and is closely monitoring the situation.

The department encouraged travelers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement officials.

UPDATE:

"The man was apparently already on the government’s no-fly list of suspected terrorists, according to a senior intelligence official."

The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques."ABC

More:

"The 23-year-old suspect lighted a powdery substance as the aircraft was preparing for landing,around noon, a federal counterterrorism official said. Two other passengers on the flight noticed, and a third person jumped on the man, the official said."Niger1.com

More:

Delta releases official statement

"Upon approach to Detroit, a passenger caused a disturbance onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The passenger was subdued immediately and the crew requested that law enforcement meet the flight upon arrival. The flight, operated by Northwest using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft with 278 passengers onboard, landed safely. The passenger was taken into custody and questioned by law enforcement authorities. Delta is cooperating fully with authorities and additional questions should be directed to law enforcement officials who are leading the investigation."

Delta Air Lines

CONTACT: Corporate Communications, Delta Air Lines, +1-404-715-2554

Web Site: http://www.delta.com/


MORE:

Rep. Peter King: Nigerian Man Who Tried to Bomb Plane Over Detroit Had "Significant Terrorist Connections"...

According to the AP, the overseas contingency operator's name is Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, thereby crushing the left's hopes that this guy wasn't a follower of the Religion of Peace...

(The Hill)- The suspect in an alleged attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas was on a list "indicating significant terrorist connections," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Friday.

King, the top Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the suspect in the attempted bombing of a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit as a 23-year-old Nigerian national with potential ties to al-Qaeda.

...“He is a 23 year old Nigerian who is also – it’s been confirmed to me – while he was not on a no fly list, his name was on a list for having terrorist connections,” King said during an interview Christmas evening on CNN.

“His name was in a database indicating significant terrorist connections,” King said.

"There's a real worry about terrorist activity in Nigeria, so much so that last year the American government gave body detection technology to Nigeria for their airports," King said. "Their level of security, we felt was not comprable to others."

From Reliapundit at the Astute Bloggers:

WAS INTELLIGENCE ABOUT TODAY'S ATTEMPTED AIRLINE-BOMBING WHAT REALLY CLOSED THE CHUNNEL AND NYC'S PENN STATION?

ON WEDNESDAY WE ASKED:

WEATHER? ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS? OR, TERROR THREATS?

FIRST THE CHUNNEL SHUT DOWN - DUE TO "WINTRY WEATHER".

NOW PENN STATION - DUE TO "ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS".

COINCIDENCE!? OR TERROR THREAT?

ARE WE BEING TOLD THE TRUTH!?

NOBODY ELSE ASKED THESE QUESTIONS.

AND TODAY, THERE WAS AN ATTEMPTED ATTACK ON A JETLINER, OUT OF EUROPE.

[MORE HERE.]

*******CONGRESSMAN KING:

. . . it was a fairly sophisticated device. I would say we dropped the ball on this one."

*******MORE FROM KING:

Of the device used on Friday, he said, “It appears to be different from explosive devices that have been used before. That is perhaps why it escaped detection. Maybe that is why it made it through.”

MIGHT IT BE CONNECTED TO THE CHUNNEL CLOSING OR TO THE CLOSING OF NYC'S PENN STATION?

WERE THESE CLOSING BECAUSE OF SOME SKETCHY INTELLIGENCE ABOUT AN IMPENDING ATTACK ON MASS TRANSIT? AND WAS TODAY'S EVENT THE ACTUAL ATTEMPTED ATTACK?

WE NEED THE MSM TO ASK THE QUESTIONS SO WE GET SOME ANSWERS...

ALSO: HOW WERE THESE CHEMICALS SMUGGLED ON-BOARD?

COULD THESE CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CATASTROPHIC "CRAHSES" OF ADAM AIR FLIGHT KI 574 AND/OR AIR FRANCE 447?

I would also ask if this ATTACK ON AMERICA was related to the recent Jihadist Dry Runs:

Hmmm . . . Yet Another Dry Run?: United 227 Sounds Just Like AirTran 297

The curious case of Air Tran flight 297

MORE:

From jihadwatch.org The suspect travelled to the US on a suspiciously generous "2 year VISA for a "religious ceremony"".[Spencer adds that ABC amended their report to reflect it was for a seminar]

". . .The visa office should have asked just what "ceremony" that was. Even Lent is only 6 weeks, and Ramadan a month. "

“He didn’t say anything,” said Dennis, who lives in Europe and was connecting to a flight to Arizona. “He was burned very severely on his leg.… He was very calm

CNN's Ali Velshi stops Rep. King from naming Northwest Airlines terrorist

CNN has image/video report of Farouk wrapped in blanket being removed from plane

from pjmedia 100. Ellison:


The Nigerian Al-Qaeda operative, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, is the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman and former minister.

Six months ago the prominent banker reported his son’s extremist views and activities to United States’ Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies.

Nevertheless, a source close to the father of the Muslim jihadist said the father was surprised that after his reports to the US authorities, the young man was allowed to travel to the United States.

A surprise to the father, perhaps, but no surprise at all to the wide-awake US citizens living under the highly aberrational and anti-American Obama regime.

Fascist governments work by design not incompetence.